Volunteerism in a Community‐Based Sample of Women Aged 50 to 80 Years1

This paper has 2 purposes: (a) to present the differences in demographic and health characteristics of older women volunteers and nonvolunteers in a community‐based sample; (b) to identify the motivations of current and past volunteers, as contrasted with those who have never volunteered. A population‐based survey was conducted with a sample of 1,104 women aged 50 to 80 years in the state of Washington. Nonvolunteers were less likely to be married and were slightly less likely to be White than were current or past volunteers. Demographic variables (e. g., age) and health status predicted level of reported motivation for volunteering. These data provide us with population‐based estimates of volunteering and motivations for older women.     

ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT OF EXCESSIVE STRAIGHTENING AND DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR IN AN ADOLESCENT DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM

Repetitive behaviors such as excessive straightening are commonly observed among individuals with autism. Attempts to prevent these behaviors may increase the likelihood of other problem behaviors. The present study was designed to assess and treat the excessive straightening and associated destructive behaviors of a 16‐year‐old boy who had been diagnosed with autism and moderate mental retardation. Following a series of functional analyses, an intervention that incorporated functional communication, extinction of destructive behavior, and blocking of repetitive straightening was demonstrated to be effective in reducing straightening and destructive behavior.     

INCREASING CUSTOMER SERVICE BEHAVIORS USING MANAGER‐DELIVERED TASK CLARIFICATION AND SOCIAL PRAISE

This project assessed an intervention to improve employee customer service behaviors (correct greetings and closing behaviors). A combination of task clarification and manager‐delivered social praise resulted in increased correct greeting from 11.5% to 66% and correct closing from 8% to 70%. The effect was maintained at a 48‐week follow‐up for employees who were present during the initial study period, but not for more recently hired employees. The results suggest that task clarification combined with manager‐delivered social praise is an effective way to improve employee customer service behaviors.     

Reading Stories Activates Neural Representations of Visual and Motor Experiences

ABSTRACT— To understand and remember stories, readers integrate their knowledge of the world with information in the text. Here we present functional neuroimaging evidence that neural systems track changes in the situation described by a story. Different brain regions track different aspects of a story, such as a character's physical location or current goals. Some of these regions mirror those involved when people perform, imagine, or observe similar real-world activities. These results support the view that readers understand a story by simulating the events in the story world and updating their simulation when features of that world change.     

Relational Anxiety in Interracial Interactions

ABSTRACT— Most of the research on intergroup anxiety has examined the impact of people's own anxiety on their own outcomes. In contrast, we show that in intergroup interactions, one's partner's anxiety is just as important as one's own anxiety (if not more important). Using a diary study among college roommates, we show that partners' anxiety predicts respondents' anxiety across time on a daily basis, as well as respondents' interest in living together again the next year. We discuss the importance of taking a relational approach to understanding intergroup interactions.     

Leadership predictors of innovation and task performance: Subordinates' self‐esteem and self‐presentation as moderators

This study examined self‐related subordinate variables as moderators of relationships between supervisors' leadership behaviours (transformational as well as active‐corrective transactional leadership) and subordinates' innovative behaviour and task performance. Based on behavioural plasticity and self‐monitoring theory, we hypothesized that these associations would be moderated by subordinates' organization‐based self‐esteem and by their propensity to modify self‐presentation, a major facet of the self‐monitoring construct. Field survey data (N=161) collected in research and development, marketing and human resources departments of several German companies revealed that transformational leadership positively predicted both criteria, whereas active‐corrective transactional leadership negatively predicted innovation. As hypothesized, transformational leadership related more strongly and positively to innovation for subordinates low in organization‐based self‐esteem. When subordinates were low in self‐presentation propensity, active‐corrective transactional leadership was negatively, and transformational leadership was positively associated with task performance.     

The relationships between contact,status and prejudice: An integrated threat theory analysis of Hindu–Muslim relations in India

In the context of Hindu–Muslim relations in India, the present study (N = 87) utilized Integrated Threat Theory (Stephan & Stephan, 2000 ) to examine the mediating roles of intergroup anxiety, realistic and symbolic threats and the moderating role of group membership (Hindu vs. Muslim) in the relationships between cross‐community contact, relative in‐group status and prejudice. Overall, intergroup anxiety and realistic, but not symbolic, threat emerged as proximal predictors of prejudice and partial mediators between the predictor and criterion variables. But these findings were qualified by majority (Hindu) versus minority (Muslim) group membership. As predicted, while symbolic threat was a predictor of prejudice for Hindus, realistic threat was a paramount predictor for Muslims. In‐group status was as a significant predictor for low‐status minority group only. The results are discussed with reference to their potential implications for future research and interventions aimed at improving intergroup relations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cover-Copy-Compare and Spelling: One Versus Three Repetitions

Cover, copy, compare (CCC) has been used with success to improve spelling skills. This study adds to existing research by completing an analysis of the rewriting component of the intervention. The impact of varying the number of times a subject copied a word following an error was examined with four elementary age students. An adaptive alternating treatments design with counterbalancing was used to compare the effects of two versions of CCC and baseline during acquisition and retention 2 weeks later. During acquisition, performance in both versions of CCC was greater than that during baseline sessions. There was not an appreciable difference between versions of CCC. Retention of performance was similar for CCC1 and CCC3. Results are discussed in terms of the core components of CCC and directions for future research.